Philip Maddocks: Bipartisan harmony and goodwill sends government into chaos

Friday

Jan 21, 2011 at 12:01 AMJan 21, 2011 at 6:18 PM

The U.S. government was plunged into abject chaos this week by an unprecedented show of bipartisan accord and statesmanlike decorum from Democratic and Republican lawmakers in both chambers, who unconditionally embraced each other’s legislative agendas, unanimously agreeing to both expand and hold the line on the national debt, to repeal and expand health care, and to raise and cut taxes for everyone.

Philip Maddocks

The U.S. government was plunged into abject chaos this week by an unprecedented show of bipartisan accord and statesmanlike decorum from Democratic and Republican lawmakers in both chambers, who unconditionally embraced each other’s legislative agendas, unanimously agreeing to both expand and hold the line on the national debt, to repeal and expand health care, and to raise and cut taxes for everyone.

As the nation tried to sort through the enormous implications of contradictory laws that both added and slashed trillions of dollars from the federal government and called on state and local governments to, on the one hand, do more and, on the other hand, do less to comply with funded and unfunded mandates, President Obama called on lawmakers to stop agreeing among themselves and put the good of the country before their petty agreements,

“At a time when our discourse has become so sharply agreeable, at a time when we are far too eager to deliver praise at the feet of those who think differently than we do,” he said, “it’s important for us to pause for a moment and remember what divides us, for the good of the government and the good of this country.”

The president went on to urge lawmakers of all beliefs to “sharpen their instincts for incomprehension.”

It was one of the more powerful addresses that Mr. Obama has delivered as president, harnessing the emotion generated by the shock and horror of what a fully functional Congress is capable of as he called on Americans “to expand our moral indignations, to listen to each other less carefully” and to “remind ourselves of all the ways that it is the other guy who is standing in the way of all our hopes and dreams.”

While lawmakers and observers alike had long been warning that a polarized Capitol Hill would have dire consequences for a nation that needs to confront budgetary profligacy, escalating health care costs and an aging population, few had considered the even more calamitous cost of a suddenly super functional Congress.

Just days after tossing aside political differences and showing a newfound willingness to tackle every problem confronting the U.S. without rancor and with little concern for what their absolute accord might mean for the country, members of Congress have pushed the U.S. government to the brink of anarchy. This week there were calls for elected officials to get back to fighting among themselves for the good of the nation.

“Without disagreement, there can be no compromise, and without compromise, there can be no effective government,” said Chad Sopperwith, the author of “The Will of the Predicate: a History of Demonizing in Modern Politics and Suburban Kitchens.”

Despite the seeming intractability of inter-party bon ami, Mr. Obama is not giving up. On Monday, administration officials say, he will sign an executive order establishing an 18-member National Commission on Congressional Deadlock and Discord. Ricky Gervais and Christian Bale will serve as co-chairmen of the commission. Gervais, an award-winning writer and comedian, is fresh from an uncivil stint as master of ceremonies at the recent Golden Globe ceremony. And Bale, an award-winning actor, has a trouble-making pedigree that few in Hollywood or Washington can match.

“There isn’t a single sitting member of Congress — not one — that doesn’t know exactly where we’re headed,” Mr. Gervais said in a telephone interview Thursday just before word of his role got out. “And to use the politics of calm and unity and love on each other — we are at a point right now where it doesn’t matter a whit whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican and that has to change.”

Mr. Bale said that he never really knew anything about the way Congress is supposed to not work, and joked that on press junkets he wondered who “those awful lawmakers” in the room were.

While he criticized liberal Democrats for both reducing and increasing entitlement benefits, Mr. Gervais also dismissed Republicans for trying to control deficits with spending cuts and spending increases alone. “They seem more interested in agreeing with one another than delivering caustic talking points. That has to stop,” he said.

But in interviews and television appearances over the weekend, lawmakers in both parties seemed in little mood to change their cooperative ways.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democrat, and Sen. Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, a leading conservative, spent Sunday dancing together in the Capitol rotunda and told reporters that they planned to sit together at the State of the Union speech and might even hold hands.

“We hope that many others will follow us,” Mr. Schumer said, appearing with Mr. Coburn on “Meet the Press” on NBC. “We believe in order in America, but not if that order comes at the expense of our comfort and good feeling for our fellow colleagues. Our country will just have to find a way to adjust.”

Philip Maddocks can be reached at pmaddock@cnc.com.

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